Although
many might though she is Japanese, Shirley also know as Little Miss Bento,
comes from Singapore. Her passion for cooking has reached a new level where
creating a simple lunch becomes a meticulous process, involving different
techniques of cooking, colored ingredients, drawing and cutting into the food,
finding a perfect scenario to show the creations and keeping her audience more
hungry every time she update a new post.

She
is the first Singaporean to be certified as instructor by the Japan Sushi
Association and her love for the Nippon country has taken her to study Japanese
for two years. Little Miss Bento is now one of the most influential Kawaii /
Cute blogs in the scene, collaborating with important brands, giving workshops
and publishing books to help other people create their own bentos.

S. My name is Shirley, although most people know me by my online
moniker - Little Miss Bento. I started cooking much younger when I was
schooling. I guess my mom being the good cook has always encouraged us to try
our hands at cooking.

S. I
guess personally really enjoy Japanese and more Asian cooking, so the common
ingredients in my bento includes rice, seaweed, tamagoyaki eggs etc.

R. 你最喜歡的食材是什麼或是你用最多的是哪一些？

S. 我想我個人真的很喜歡日式和較亞洲的食材，所以我便當裡大多出現的是米飯、海苔和玉子燒等等。

R. Have you take any
course in arts or photography any to take your cooking to the next level?

S. Actually
I was in the arts prior to my culinary journey. I was an Art student back in
college and was a full time performing arts practitioner for many years. However for cooking, most of my training was
done in Japan. I am a certified instructor with the Japan sushi instructor
association as well as with Japan Salonaise Association. However many of these
training was spurred on by my personal interest to upgrade and be better. It
was really not because I had a huge career goal in mind.

For
photography, it was really pick up as I went. I was never trained
professionally in photography, but I do enjoying styling for my shoots

S. Actually
I havent kept track, as there are many popular postings. I think of the popular
items include character sushi and some of the unexpected menu like when I turn
local foods etc into character designs.

S. I
follow trends closely and personally only cook things that I will eat myself.
So its not only for the camera, but it should feed the tummy too.

R. 談到烹飪，你的靈感是什麼？

S. 我跟隨現下趨勢並且只做我自己會吃的東西，所以並不只是為了拍照好看也必須是可以餵飽肚子的。

R. Some brands and
restaurants have approached you to make collaborations, how is to work with big
corporations?

At
the beginning, it was pretty daunting yet exciting at the same time. I guess it
is about value-adding with my expertise and sharing what I know with them.

S. 有一些品牌和餐廳聯繫你並共同合作，和這些大品牌一起合作的感覺如何？

起初是非常令人怯步但同時又很興奮的感覺，我覺得這對我的專業是一個很好的經驗，並且和他們分享我所知道的。

R. You are the first
Singaporean to get the certification of the japan sushi instructor association.
How was the process to get it?

S. It
involves several round of training sessions and a final examination in Japan.
We were required to make sushi without guidance, within a certain time frame
and everything had a score. including demerit points if you have like a stray
rice grain hanging at the side, or on your knife.

R. You have visited
Taiwan few times, what do you think about the food culture here?

S. I think what strikes me the most was Taiwan’s strong street food
culture, especially the night markets which is very special and unique to the
city. Amidst the buzz and the warmth of the friendly store owners, it is really
nice to be able to enjoy quality food at very reasonable prices.